Page 85

Moving to cross her arms again but pausing just in time to remember her wound, Alex said, “I crashed and burned with your elders, I know that. But I still have to try.”

Shirez cocked her head to the side and pinned Alex again with her bottomless eyes. “You are unnaturally obstinate for a human.”

Alex’s reply was instant. “I’ve been called worse.”

“Of that I have no doubt,” Shirez said.

Other than a slight narrowing of her eyes, Alex didn’t respond to the offensive statement. Instead, she said, “While you’re talking to the elders, Caspar Lennox and I can go and meet the Dayriders. When we’re done, we’ll come back and you can tell us how it went.”

“Two things are wrong with what you’ve proposed,” Shirez said, that unexpected humour touching her face again. “The first is that the elders have retired for the afternoon. I cannot seek them out until later, so you will have to wait to hear from me.”

That was frustrating, but waiting a day was better than having to wait a month. Plus, Alex wasn’t physically in a position to fight again—not yet.

“What’s the second?” she asked.

It was Caspar Lennox who replied. “We do not cross into the light.”

Confused, Alex said, “Sorry?”

“Shadow Walkers do not cross into the light, nor do Dayriders pass into the shadows, not without invitation,” he said. “I cannot come with you to the Lumeniia—to the crystal pyramid where the Order meet.”

Thinking back to the vision of the city cleaved in two, Alex understood what he was saying. There was a clear boundary, one that neither race would cross on a whim.

“Okay, so I’ll go it alone,” she said. “But either way, I’m going.” She looked around the crypt-like room and added, “Uh, but I’d be grateful if someone helped get me out of here and pointed me in the right direction. I have no idea where we are right now.”

“We’re in a preparation room underneath the Obscuria,” Caspar Lennox said.

Alex didn’t have the courage to ask exactly what was prepared in the room they inhabited, wondering if perhaps she wasn’t far off the mark in comparing it to a crypt.

“Caspar Lennox can deliver you to the edge of our territory,” Shirez offered on his behalf. “The Lumeniia is a short walk from the boundary where dark meets light. You will find your way with ease.”

“That sounds great, thanks,” she said—to both of them.

Her teacher stepped towards her. “You have been unconscious for a few hours. It is mid-afternoon, so if you wish to speak with the Order, now is the time to do so.”

Alex groaned, realising that a significant portion of her weekend—bothdays—had been spent with her eyes closed.Time sure flies when you’re knocked out cold, she thought sardonically.

“You’ll get in touch after you’ve spoken with your grandfather?” Alex confirmed with Shirez. “You’ll really try to convince the elders to give me another chance?”

“I think you are neurologically damaged to wish for such a thing,” Shirez said with ruthless candour, “but yes, for what it’s worth, I shall argue strongly on your behalf.”

The tension in Alex’s shoulders eased a fraction. “Thank you, Shirez Ganare,” she said, careful to follow the etiquette of addressing the Shadow Walker by both first and last names. “Truly, I appreciate it.”

A dip of the head followed by a look from Shirez towards Caspar Lennox that made Alex’s heart stutter a little at its intensity, and the female Shadow Walker disappeared in a cloud of black.

“She likes you.”

Alex slammed her mouth shut after those three words popped out unbidden, but it was too late to take them back.

“Things are complicated between the two of us,” came Caspar Lennox’s surprisingly open reply. But he said no more, and Alex had no business prying into the personal life of her teacher, not when she knew so little about himorhis race.

“Shall we head to this boundary line place?” she asked instead, a deliberately upbeat note to her voice. “I could use some time in the sun. No offence, but all this darkness is giving me the willies.”

Caspar Lennox’s voice was deadpan when he repeated, “Giving you… the willies.”

It wasn’t a question, it was simply a statement, and coming from him in that tone of voice, it was the most hilarious thing Alex had heard all day. She burst out laughing, unable to stop even when he released a grudging sigh and reached for her uninjured arm, sweeping her from the room.

Twenty-Two